XXVI EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The following table shows the intervals of time during which work 

 has been carried on in each. (The numbers in the following table cor- 

 respond with those in the preceding table.) 



I. August 1 to October 30, 1879. 



II. September 2, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 



III. September, 1879, to January, 1880. 



IV. July to October, 1879. 



V. August, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 



VI. August 16 to January 1, 1880. 



VII. August 1, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 



VIII. January, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 

 XIV. August, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 

 XVIII. August, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 



XX. October, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 



XXI. September, 1879, to January 1, 1880. 



In addition to the field assistants already mentioned a staff from the 

 beginning have been at work in the office of the division, carrying on 

 correspondence, searching past records, and preparing the report for pub- 

 lication. Mr. C. W. Smiley, Mr. F. W. True, Mr. James Temple Brown, 

 and Mr. George S. Hobbs have been connected with the work from its 

 start, and from a later date Mr. J. E. Eockwell, Mr. C. W. Scudder, Mr. 

 G. P. Merrill, and others have been thus employed. A number of clerks 

 have also been detailed by the Superintendent of the Census, at one time 

 as many as eight. A large part of the clerical force under the direction 

 of Mr. Smiley, who has in special charge the correspondence and the 

 work of compiling. statistics from responses to circulars. 



Some of the explorations carried on by the special agents of the Cen- 

 sus Office, aud engaged in this work, are deserving of more extended 

 notice. The labors of Mr. Earll and Captain Collins on the coast of 

 Maine were necessarily confined largely to the gathering of statistics, 

 there being but little opportunity for zoological work, such as was car- 

 ried on by several others of the party. The natural history of the fishes 

 of New England, however, is well known, and the number of species of 

 fish accessible from the shore is very limited. 



A large amount of material for a very elaborate statistical, descrip- 

 tive, and historical report was obtained, and also a very interesting 

 series of sketches of fishery implements made by Captain Collins. 



The same method was pursued on the coast of Massachusetts by 

 Messrs. Clark, True, Atwood, and Wilcox. In this region considerable 

 additions were made to the collection of fisheiy implements, and de- 

 posited by the Fish Commission in the National Museum. 



The exploration of the Gulf of Mexico by Mr. Stearns brought about 

 important results statistically, and also greatly increased our knowledge 

 of the habits of the food-fishes and the methods of conducting the fish- 

 eries. A number of new species were added to the fauna of the United 

 States by Mr. Stearns and his party. The circuit of the Gulf of Mexico 



